Timeline (how long your order took to process): Commissioned on 8/31, wig finished but called off 9/5.

Describe your Experience. Pros, Cons, Comments.

Pros: She's fast at replying to emails and works fast. That's it. For cons, see my comments.

Comments: My Reno wig got destroyed in a move, so I looked for a commissioner to make a new one- and I found an excellent example in her gallery. I asked for a quote, she responded with a decent price, and I accepted.

Today, I get an email from her, and she mentions that the wig might be different because her friend wasn't there. Alarm bells, red flags, etc. It turns out that the original one that I'd seen in her gallery was not made by her, no- by her friend who moved away and no longer does wigs. So I commissioned a wig that was to be made by someone completely different than the person who made the example, something she neglected to mention before I paid. (The wig that's presently in her gallery is the one she made for me- you can see the quality of the photos she sent me, mentioned in next paragraph, although I fully expect her to change the pictures again if she sees this review.)

Also, the pictures she took of the finished wig were not only close ups of her face ala-MySpace, but they were distorted by multiple photo effects. When I asked her for pictures in natural light, she was none too happy, and she provided blurry pictures of a wig that was NOTHING like the one that was in her gallery when I commissioned her. When I responded and told her that I was NOT happy at all with the wig, the pictures, or her professionalism, she threatened to not send the wig at all.

And all things considered, I told her to keep it. I don't want that wig, and I don't want to ever deal with her again. I told her straight up I would ask for a refund if I thought she would actually consider it, but her behavior up until that point made me realize that the money is long gone. An expensive lesson in commissioner choice.

She claims that everything else in her gallery was made by her alone, but who are we to know? Really.

I have screenshots of every email she sent me, just to show how increasingly nasty she got with me, but I'm not going to post them unless I have to. :/ And now I likely won't have time to find another commissioner to take me on for my November convention.

Character commissioned and series/video game: Meryl Stryfe from Trigun: Cape with bow (partial costume)
Links to picture(s) of your commissioned item:http://www.cosplay.com/costume/172724/ (The last four pictures have me wearing the cape.)

Timeline: July 27th-August 29th, so about one month. She got the cape to me about a week before I thought I need it, even though she went on vacation for a bit. I decided not to wear the cosplay to the con, though I was very tempted because I absolutely love this cape! (It's my home con, and I was afraid I'd run into non-cosplay friends on mass transit, and/or be harrassed by drunkards on mass transit, haha.) Anyway.

Describe your Experience.

Pros: Alina is the absolute best! I commissioned her to make my Fuu cosplay some months ago, and I decided to commission her for another costume piece when her price turned out to be favorable compared with others I'd questioned. Besides, I'd been incredibly satisfied with her work and communication before! Alina did not disappoint. Always kind, always helpful, and she chose the absolute most fitting cloth for this cape-- I swear, I once felt it and said to myself, "That is so Meryl." I highly recommend Alina to anyone looking to commission a costume. I've bought things off various ebay stores, I've commissioned Limebarb, Alina tops them all.

Name of Commissioner: Cosplay Garden/Cosplayweiwei
Website/C.com gallery: ebay
Character commissioned and series/video game: Milly Ashford Code Geass uniform (minus socks, wig, and shoes)
Links to picture(s) of your commissioned item: In my gallery
Timeline: about 2 months
Describe your Experience: I was very pleased with their communication and patience with me and my difficulty with sizing (inches-Cm).
Pros: Costume is beautiful and well-made
Cons: Just me having trouble with sizing >.< not their fault. Top is a bit tight in the bust area and I can't lift my arms too high. I also had to buy a white button-down because the (very pretty) one that they sent was too small for my assets.
Comments: I have been complimented NUMEROUS times on this costume and was even told by one person that "You have the best Code Geass uniform I've seen so far". Fabric is durable and it is a pleasure to wear!
Final Grade: A

Name of Merchant: Sakura WigsWebsite:HereItem purchased: 1 custom wig of Osaka Naru from Sailor MoonLinks to picture(s) of your received item:HereTimeline: Ordered around the end of January 2007 or beginning of Febuary 2007 and received in May 2007Describe your Experience. Pros, Cons, Comments: I'm not sure on exact dates as so much time has past, but I know my general time frames are correct. I contacted Sakura Wigs some time around the beginning of 2007 about making me a custom wig of Osaka Naru from Sailor Moon and sent them several reference images as well as letting them know I'd be happy to provide more if needed as well as pay extra since it was somewhat of a rush order. As the colour wasn't constant between the images, I specified which colour I'd like to go with. I was told that they could get my wig out in a matter of weeks, well before mid-May when I needed it for Anime Central. I agreed to their time line and price and sent them the money. I fully admit it is my fault for not contacting them sooner (this was the first custom order I had ever made and I simply didn't know enough to keep in contact with sellers), but when I hadn't heard anything else from them by late March/early April I finally did contact them to be told that they were almost done with the wig. Another two weeks went by and I contacted them again. I was then told that they had just shipped my wig and given a tracking number. They are located in Canada, and shipping from Canada to America can take 2 weeks, something I would expect a merchant to know. I finally received my wig 2 days before I was due to leave for the con, and on the same day I received a back up wig from CosWorx that I had ordered a week before. The wig is lovely quality, although the wrong colour (it doesn't match ANY of the reference pictures I sent), and while I plan on using it for future lolita outfits, I will have to have a new wig made when I redo this costume.Final Grade: C- (This grade isn't lower simply because of the quality of the wig itself.)

Timeline
A few weeks. 22 days from order request to in my hand. WAY faster then estimated.

Experience
I needed patches for my Pyro costume, and saw the awesome work The Hag had done for other people. And I am SO happy I did. Lots of friendly e-mails. Quick write backs. I hope I get a chance to work with em again.

Name of Merchant: CosworxWebsite
cosworx.comItem purchased
White GoGo Boot from clearance Links to picture(s) of your received item
I don't have any pictures, but I can get some if they're *really* needed.Timeline (how long your order took to process)
About four weeksDescribe your Experience.
So when the shoe clearance sale happened, I was pretty excited. They had the perfect boot to match my upcoming cosplay (GLaDOS from Portal) outfit, so I went ahead and ordered them. We were ready for a semi-long wait, considering the reviews from this thread.

Anyway, about two weeks passed. Nothing. No package, no conformation, nothing. So we (as in, my mother and myself, yes?) had to email them about this. A day after they got this email they finally gave us the conformation.

The boots came today, with about a five day shipping period. The only problem I could see with the boots was a tiny scuff mark, but it isn't very noticeable so we brushed it off.

Final Grade: A-
The boots finally got here, so the only reason I docked the grade was because we didn't get anything from them for about two weeks. But otherwise it went smoothly :3

need a good site the gives a crap load of cosplay costume options, currently looking for a ky-kiske costume, that i thought i had found but just b4 posting this message i had discovered it was on a site that was known for scamming. any help would be much apreciated.

Cons: wig never arrived by promised date or in time for con; little communication when really needed; wig arrived only after paypal dispute occurred; wig alterations for cosplay of very poor quality with clumps of glue very visibly making it look like a hastily tossed together item.

Comments: I wish Iíd had the forethought to check here before commissioning from Amanda. Would have avoided her if I had known.

This was an international purchase to Australia.

March 2008 I emailed for a wig required for Y-con in late September with the delivery date to be around late August. Commission went through in April. Everything seemed okay, plenty of time and I paid for the wig straight away because the exchange rate was really good. I left Amanda alone because her site requests not to be pestered which is understandable because real life happens to interfere with our obsessions and the less distraction the better. And so I waited. Last week of August I received an email saying:Yes, it is going out this week (by Wednesday) and should get there on time! I will e-mail you again with the tracking number and pictures! Again I waited but no pictures or tracking number came. I tried email contact via two email addressí, lj comment and even got a myspace account to attempt to contact Amanda. Y-con came and went and still no replies to my emails. I started a paypal transaction dispute at the beginning of October. $146.55 for a wig including express postage is a lot of money.

Finally at the beginning of November I get an email from Amanda:HOPEFULLY This one will get through~

I'm really sorry for missing your deadline! I did mail the wig out prior; I had my boyfriend mail it out, but he addressed it wrong and it got sent back. I have had some transportation problems (transmission died in my car) after I got back from my grandma's funeral/other things involving that, but I did get it mailed out express mail today (it was mistakenly done global priority before). It's said to be guaranteed by Nov. 10th. I will also give this info to paypal, so they can handle the chargeback stuff. Also, I had tried to send pictures prior to that, but I remember you saying those were never received either. They are on my website at http://www.kawaiiwigs.net/asch.html . Also, I'm sorry about the phone calls. Most of the time during the day, I have my phone on vibrate, so I never noticed the calls until later and had no way to call back.

Again, I sincerely am sorry! I was not planning on scamming you and would never do that to someone. I just had a lot of stuff come up at the wrong time. :/
- Amanda

Considering all the emails I sent requesting information or replies, her excuses mean little to me. I still have all our emails too and my addy has never changed. Iím not sure if I managed to catch her on the phone before or after this but I did talk to her two or three times and the first time she seemed sincere enough but now I know better.

The transaction dispute was cleared up after a couple months of phone calls to my bank and to paypal but considering the quality of the finished product I wish Iíd just sent it back and kept the money as Iíve never worn the cosplay. Both it and the wig sit in separate boxes in my sewing room and will likely never be used. Amanda ruined my want to cosplay this character.

Please, if you are like me and have not received your wig in time for your event, contact your bank and paypal and get your money back. Helpful info from a paypal customer service operator is that it can take up to 80 days for money to be processed once a dispute is started so don't panic if your money takes a short amount of time to get to you. If you suddenly receive your item and are not happy with it, send it back and keep your cash. I would have but it was less hassle to just let her keep the money considering it was nearly a year between the initial email I sent for the commission and the last I heard from her. Never order from this person.